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RE: The problem of 'We' - a reflection on the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas
Yes, 'agency' is a strange word maybe. But I'm all for reappropriating words to give them a new meaning... Another type of disturbance you seem to be liking ;-)
And thank you for your reading, your sharing of this space of learning. What is left, to continue to strive to create this space where I and the Other can both exist on their own terms. I do think Levinas doesn't go far enough in his philosophy, he doesn't say much about what we can actually do to create this space. But I felt that would be too much to go into in an exploratory post like this...
The "what" can be done, activates my psyche-button.
Did you ever heard of the method of "active listening"? To let the Other and myself be, was one module of my education and it surprised me a lot that methods & teachings were already that far.
We practiced to listen to the flow of words from another one without interrupting - which is nothing special, right? But we also were asked by our teacher to not inwardly start to evaluate or to judge what our "client" was telling us. Just to sit, be still and take in the presence of one another.
I tried that out later on in my professional practice with "real clients" and it often worked to an extend I wouldn't have assumed. What I do, is watching my breathing and whenever a thought of excitement, sadness, anger, prejudice etc. comes up, I name it, acknowledge it and then let it go. That always has an immediate effect on the quality of the meeting. Though it is tough to remember when I am not stable.
With writing and communicating here it is different. No physical presence involved. Makes it sometimes harder, sometimes easier.
Yes, I do that too with my students when I try to let them experience this. I use the Meisner technique, which originates in theatre as an acting-method. Very similar to what you describe, I think.
Cool, you know the name of it!
Maybe this WAS from the Meisner technique, I cannot remember.